


I want you to want me

by Bxtty_jxnes



Category: John Tucker Must Die (2006), Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Based on John Tucker must die, But I promise he isn't, Comedy, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Jughead seems like an asshole at first, Light Angst, Minor Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Minor Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Minor Jughead Jones/Cheryl Blossom, Minor Jughead Jones/Toni Topaz, Minor Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge, Misunderstood Jughead, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Recreational Drug Use, Romantic Comedy, There is always two sides to the story, There is no cheating though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:53:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28987380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bxtty_jxnes/pseuds/Bxtty_jxnes
Summary: John Tucker Must Die AUJughead Jones has broken the hearts of too many women and now it's coming back to bite him in the ass. When new girl Betty Cooper moves to town, she's recruited by 3 powerhouse women to get revenge on their ex and break his heart like he broke theirs. However problems arise when Betty begins to fall for Jughead herself.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 38
Kudos: 52





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm so excited for this story. If you haven't seen John Tucker Must Die I highly recommend- it's one of my favourite comfort films. If you have- I'm sure you're cautious as John Tucker is a big fat cheater. However I promise that there is no cheating in this fic (I've seen enough of that on Riverdale) and Jughead is a good guy- he's just misunderstood- all will be revealed.  
> I hope you enjoy reading ! :)

Betty sighs as she flops back onto her bedspread. Empty boxes are scattered across her floor, after a day of moving in and unpacking. After another one of her mother’s messy divorces (this was her 4th), they had decided to move to a small town named Riverdale for a fresh start. And with a new town came a new school, Betty is expected to start Riverdale High on Monday and she is far from thrilled.

Starting a new school usually came with the expectation to make new friends, but at this point, Betty found making friends futile. If she had learned anything from the past, it was that her mother Alice would soon fall in love with another useless jerk, get her heart broken and move again, forcing Betty to leave her new life and any friends behind.

With a final huff, Betty crawls under the covers and pulls the blanket over her head, encompassing herself in darkness.

* * *

Walking through the front doors of Riverdale High, Betty can feel all eyes on her. No matter how many times she’s been the ‘new girl’ the first day never becomes less daunting. She walks to the front desk where she’s told a student named Ethel Muggs should be here anytime soon to show her around. After waiting for 20 minutes, Betty realises that this Ethel is a no show and she’s going to have to find her own way to first period.

Scurrying through the hallways, Betty tries to follow the map she was given to her English class. _Great_ she thinks as her head darts left and right looking for classroom 204, _first day and I’m already late!_. Finally, with a sigh of relief she spots her room and tries to catch her breath before walking into her class.

Flinging the door open, all eyes fly to her, while an older woman holds a stick of chalk up mid-air, as Betty interrupts her lesson. The teacher is clearly unamused and Betty gulps loudly as she glares straight at her.

“How can I help you young lady?” the teacher asks with a pointed look, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“Oh- I’m Betty, it’s my first day here.” she stammers. Quickly she glances back at her timetable double checking she did go to the right room. “You are Mrs Grundy, right?”

“Yes, and you’re late. Take a seat at the front here and see me after class.” Betty nods vigorously, darting to the spare seat in the front row.

After the lesson, Betty has learned that Mrs Grundy is a strict teacher and she’s been given an hour’s detention after school, despite pleading that the reason she was late was due to it being her first day and having nobody to guide her.

The rest of the day goes by in a blur, Betty finally meets Ethel Muggs who apologises profusely for being late, apparently, she had car troubles this morning, and so she’s shown to the rest of her classes smoothly and on time. At lunch, she sits alone and watches an episode of the new murder documentary on Netflix. When the bell rings she makes her way to the final lesson of the day, biology. Her teacher, Mr Morgan, greets her and points her to where there should be a spare seat in the back corner.

Betty smiles and spins to where he points and as she does so, she sees the boy who she assumes will be her new lab partner. “Just ask Mr Jones if you’re behind on anything and he should be able to catch you up to speed” Morgan tells her before turning to greet the rest of the students filtering through the doorway.

Betty’s mouth falls open slightly looking at this so called ‘Mr Jones’. He’s terribly handsome, with dark curls hanging over his eyes and long fingers tapping a pencil on the desk. He’s sitting with his chin resting on his other hand and seems caught up in his thoughts. Betty approaches the desk slowly, but he still doesn’t notice her until she’s standing right in front of him with a small smile.

“Hi” she mutters, and only then does she notice the earphones he had in. He tugs one out and smiles back at her in return.

“Hey- uhm...”

“It’s Betty” she finishes for him, while taking the seat next to him. “I’m new here.”

“Oh cool, well I’m Jughead. Welcome to Riverdale”.

Betty doesn’t learn much that lesson. She and Jughead talk, he asks where she’s from, she asks about the town and then they make vague plans to hangout sometime. She knows these plans will probably never come to fruition, from what she’s gathered Jughead seems like a pretty popular guy, and she’s not surprised, he’s charming, flirty, attractive, and easy to talk to. She will blend into the background, she’ll be the girl he sits next to in biology and when she inevitably leaves the small town behind, he’ll forget she ever existed.

* * *

Before she knows it, the final bell has rung, and Betty makes her way back to Mrs Grundy’s room at 204 for detention. When she arrives there’s already two other students there. One girl with fiery red hair and matching lipstick sits at a desk with her arms crossed and a scowl across her face. The other girl, with pink hair, has her head resting on her arms, turned down into the desk as though she’s sleeping. Grundy tells the second girl to sit up straight before ordering Betty to take a seat.

10 minutes later, the hallways are empty as all the students have made their way home and so it’s eerily quiet. Soon though there’s a click clack of heels on the linoleum floors and a small bundle of black hair and perfectly winged eyeliner whisks into the room. “I’m sincerely sorry I’m late Mrs Grundy, there was an emergency meeting with the Spanish club” the new girl explains while pulling up the chair next to Betty’s desk. Grundy gives her a warning not to let it happen again before she’s being asked to help with the drama club.

“Do not leave. Do not utter a word to one another. I’ll be back by the end of the hour to make sure you’re still here” she orders sternly before leaving the classroom and slamming the door closed behind her.

The red head huffs and then a minute later her chair is scraping its way across the floor before she makes her way over to Grundy’s desk. “Cheryl what the hell are you doing?” the pink haired girl exclaims “Did you not just listen to a word Grundy said?”

The red head -Cheryl- shrugs and fiddles with a drawer on the desk. “If I remember correctly, she said she’d be back in an hour and the bitch confiscated my phone this morning.”

“You can’t just take it back, she’ll notice”.

Cheryl stops then and glares at the pink haired girl “I will take what is mine, Toni. You should know that by now”. A sly smile has crept up her face and suddenly Betty feels like they’re not talking about the confiscated cell phone anymore as the air thickens with tension. Next, the raven-haired Latina to Betty’s right is scoffing and all eyes shift over to her.

“Please get over yourself Cheryl” she mutters with an eye roll. Betty’s eyes are wide now darting between all 3 girls.

“Oh, I’m sorry Veronica, does little spoiled princess Lodge have something to say?”

“Yes actually!” Veronica stands too now, and Betty is praying that no teachers, specifically Grundy, can hear them, she doesn’t want anymore trouble on her first day. “I want to talk about how you think you own everyone and everything. This might be a hard pill to swallow Cheryl, but you can’t just take things and claim them as your own!”

“I only try and take what was stolen from me Lodge! You had no right- “

Betty panics now, their voices are rising to a level she knows will get them into trouble soon so she jumps to her feet and interrupts “Excuse me,” she breathes “I have no idea what’s happening right now or what you’re talking about, but can we try to remain calm. It’s my first day and I don’t really want to get into anymore trouble.”

The 3 girls shoot Betty matching frowns, and then Cheryl lets out a forced laugh. “Oh, you’re new, then word of advice, keep any boyfriends you may have away from miss Valentino over here. She loves to steal what other girl’s have”

Veronica’s jaw drops to the floor and Betty can see the rage overcoming her. Just before she’s about to scream back at Cheryl, the pink haired girl shoots up and points her finger right at Chery “Ooohh,” she laughs “that is RICH coming from you. You snatched Jones from me the second we broke up- “

“The second you broke up with him, you mean Toni” Veronica pipes in

“I wanted a break, not a break-up, but the second I realised it was a mistake Cheryl was already warming up his sheets” Toni exclaims.

‘Jones’ Betty thinks. They’re clearly all fighting over this boy and Betty puts the pieces together as the three girls continue to argue in the background. They couldn’t be talking about Jughead Jones could they?

“Wait!” Betty snaps, while slicing her arms out to silence them. It works and they all look at her expectantly. “Are you guys arguing over Jughead Jones?” she asks.

“Yes, how do you know Jughead?” Veronica asks sceptically. 

“He’s my lab partner in bio,” she explains while shaking her head with her eyes squeezed shut. “but that’s not the point. If I’m right here, you three gorgeous and strong women are fighting over this one guy?”

“A guy which Veronica stole from me!” Cheryl screeches and the girls look ready to blow up again before Betty stops them.

“Don’t you think maybe you should be mad at Jughead and not each other? I mean it sounds to me like maybe Jughead is just a player?”

They’re all silent for a second, looking contemplative. “No, because if it weren’t for her, Jughead and I would still be happily together.” Cheryl finally states.

“Wait,” Toni interjects, pointing her finger at Betty and resting her chin on a hand. “Maybe blondie has a point- “

“It’s Betty”

“I mean we can hate each other all we want- doesn’t change the fact that we’re all in the same boat.”

“And this said boat is?” Veronica questions with a frown

“The fact that we all got out asses tossed aside, and hearts broken by Jughead fucking Jones”

Betty forces a smile with raised eyebrows and nods, thankful that these girls are finally seeing the big picture.

“You’re right Toni” Cheryl agrees “We could all stay mad at each other, but the truth is we have an even greater common enemy.”

They all seem to take their seats once again and Betty is relieved, she has diffused the situation. However, after a moment of silence Veronica pipes up again “You know- “, catching their attention they turn to look at her “My Abuelita always used to say, ‘don’t get mad, get even’”.

Their interests are all piqued now, as Toni and Cheryl pull their chairs up to Veronica’s desk and Betty spins hers around. Veronica has a smirk stretched up the side of her face and her eyes glint with mischief. “What are you saying Veronica?” Toni asks with one raised eyebrow.

“I have a plan and it’s slightly crazy” she giggles. They all shuffle closer, eager to hear more.

“Go on” Cheryl mutters.

“Well, Jughead Jones needs a taste of his own medicine.” She pauses for a second and taps her manicured nails on the desk “He needs to fall in love and have his heart broken.”

Toni scoffs at that “Yeh, how exactly do you plan on that happening.”

“It’s simple, we find a girl, make him fall head over heels in love with her, and then have her dump him on his ass” Veronica finalises.

Cheryl, leaning back in her chair, nods silently before adding “And where exactly are we going to find this girl?”

Betty freezes up as 3 pair of eyes turn to land on her. Her heart stops and she shakes her head before a nervous laugh escapes her.

“No” she states but the group’s faces remain serious as they stare back at her. “No way.”


	2. Chapter 2

“There is no way I am going along with this” Betty states as sternly as possible. Her first day at Riverdale High and she’s already been dragged into a diabolical revenge plan involving breaking some guy’s heart.

“Oh please!” Veronica begs, grabbing one of Betty’s hands in her own and squeezing. “You said it yourself, we should be hurting this guy, not each other!”

Betty pulls her hand away and turns her head down towards her desk, avoiding the 3 sets of pleading eyes “No” she laughs breathlessly “I said you guys shouldn’t fight with each other, I did not say to come up with some crazy plot to get revenge”. Plus, Betty met this guy, and he was pleasant enough to her. She had no reason to carry out such a cruel plan on him.

“Oh, come on” Cheryl sighs, “Haven’t you ever had your heart broken?”

 _Yes,_ Betty thinks, Adam Chisolm, sophomore year, he had dumped her after a 6-month relationship to date some cheerleader named Trula Twyst. But that wasn’t the point. She barely knew Jughead and she barely knew these girls. She wants to keep her head down and stay out of drama.

“Look, I get it, you guys want him to hurt as much as he made you hurt, but I don’t want to be involved in this. You’re going to have to find another girl.”

A look of disappointment settles over their faces, but suddenly the distinct clack of Grundy’s shoes is echoing through the hallway and they all shuffle back to their desks.

* * *

That night, Betty sits at the kitchen island, snacking on a bad of Dorito’s while Alice does the dishes. “So,” Alice drawls, scrubbing the pan of the leftover chilli from dinner “how was your first day? You know apart from the detention and all.”

Betty crunches on another chip, slowly chewing until she’s swallowed. “Fine, I guess,” another chip popped into her mouth, “I guess I’m used to being the new girl so” she finishes around a mouthful of her snack while shrugging her shoulders. Alice just sighs and finishes the rest of the pots in silence.

After a few minutes though, Alice breaks the silence again. “Howard contacted me today.”

Howard is Alice’s recently divorced ex-husband; the douchebag was a manager at the town’s local bowling Alley and was caught cheating on his wife with his 20-year-old employee. Betty was the one that had caught them, returning home from school early with a headache and finding them on the living room couch half naked. This meant she also was the one that had to break the news to her mother, which was a heart-breaking moment, because despite some of her mother’s poor life decisions and awful taste in men, Betty loved her and just wanted to see her happy.

“What the hell did he want?” Betty asks defensively, looking up from her phone. A guilty look flashed across Alice’s face and Betty’s eyes widened. “What did he say mom?”

“Just that-“ she stops, thinking of a more delicate way to word it “he said he misses me.” she finally reveals with a sigh. Betty rolls her eyes and places her phone down on the counter.

“Mom,” she starts but is quickly interrupted.

“I know! I know, Betty, I should ignore him. It’s just that I’m lonely and sometimes I want to hear what they have to say. But don’t worry I’m not falling for it; Howard and I are completely over.”

Betty just nods mutely with a sad smile on her face. She gets up and wraps her arms around her mothers’ mid-section, pulling her in for a tight hug. After a whispered ‘I love you’ she makes her way to her room to prepare for bed.

* * *

While she lays in bed that night, she thinks of all the men that have wronged her mother, promised her love and dedication, and then treat her like shit and left. Betty barely remembers her father, she was 6 when he walked out on her and Alice; apparently Hal Cooper had a mid-life crisis (if it can even be classed as that at 30 years old), blew their savings on a Porsche and moved to LA. They’ve never heard from him since. The 2 husbands between Hal and Howard were pretty unmemorable, Dustin (or was it Dusty?) was a trucker and borderline alcoholic and Jonathan had lived a double life, he had a whole other family (girlfriend and kids) who lived in a different town.

So, yes. Betty’s track record of positive male figures and healthy loving relationships in her life was awful. Despite this though, up until quite recently she still had an optimistic belief in love. However, that belief was also crushed when Adam broke her heart at 15 years old. Soon enough, Betty feels the anger bubbling up inside and wills herself to relax and try to forget about it.

Huffing, Betty tosses over in bed and tries to clear her head to fall asleep. It’s futile though and after a few minutes she pulls her phone from her nightstand. Tapping on the icon for her Instagram, she aimlessly scrolls through her feed for a while until a certain picture catches her eye and makes her stop. It’s Adam fucking Chisolm and Trula Twyst. They’re in front of the bleachers and he’s wearing his football uniform while she sports the short cheer outfit. He’s giving her a piggyback, her arms looped around his neck and faces smushed together while they beam at the camera.

Suddenly Betty’s anger returns tenfold. _That fucking asshole_ she thinks, smashing the unfollow button before locking her phone and tossing it across the bed. She thinks of the 3 girls in detention, and how Jughead Jones had broken their hearts; just like Adam had broken hers, just like Hal, and Dusty and all the other fucking ex husbands had broken her mothers’. 

That night Veronica’s voice rings through her head as she drifts off to sleep

_Don’t get mad. Get even._

* * *

In P.E., Betty gathers Toni and Veronica, tells them to meet her at her house after school and to invite Cheryl too.

At lunch Jughead winks at her in the cafeteria and she forces a shy smile back at him.

The doorbell rings at 5PM sharp and Betty yells to her mother that she’ll get it. She leads Cheryl, Toni, and Veronica to her bedroom where they all sit perched at the edge of her bed. They wear a look of interest and concern, apart from Cheryl who looks slightly bored as she checks for any chips in her red nail varnish.

“Please tell me the reason I was dragged from my cheer practice to come meet you Bettsy” Cheryl drawls, while leaning back on one hand.

“First of all,” Betty starts, standing in front of the 3 girls, “It’s Betty. Second, I’m in.” Betty bites the smile that threatens to reach across her cheeks whilst her hands are clasped in front of her.

“What do you mean you’re in?” Veronica replies with one raised eyebrow.

“It means that I want to help you guys with your plan. Let’s break Jughead Jones’ heart.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou so much for reading! I would really appreciate any kudos or comments :)  
> If you're on Tumblr, come hang with me, my user's : Bxtty-Jxnes


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! I hope you enjoy the chapter. This fic is unbetad so I apologise for any mistakes.

Veronica shrieks and jumps up to pull Betty in a tight hug. After a few seconds she manages to wrangle her arms from Veronica’s grip to return the hug with a small laugh. Once Veronica has reluctantly pulled away, Betty looks over the girls’ shoulder to see Toni and Cheryl with impressed grins across their faces.

“You’re really going to do this?” Cheryl asks doubtfully to which Betty responds with an eager nod.

“Well, if this is going to work,” Toni states next, pulling out her beaten up laptop from her bag, “we’re going to need to a plan.” Cheryl’s sly grin grows as she looks over Toni’s shoulder to peek at the laptop. She’s created a new blank document and types the title: _Project Get Even._

“What did you have in mind TT?”

* * *

The girls are all giggling over cheesy pick-up lines when Alice walks in.

“Oh, I’ve got one- ‘Do you believe in love at first sight—or should I walk by again?’”. The girls all cackle as they lay spread across Betty’s bed together.

“Oh my god that was definitely the worst one yet!”

Betty springs up when she sees her mother walk through the door. Glancing at her alarm clock its only just after 7PM. “Mom, sorry are we being too loud?”

“No, of course not,” Alice smiles “I just came to see if you guys want anything. We’ve got soda’s in the fridge?”. They all shake their heads with grateful smiles. “What are you guys giggling about anyways?”

“We’re thinking of the worst pick-up lines possible.” Toni answers. Alice pulls a confused face before she clarifies “We’re trying to destroy a man”.

Alice nods as if that’s a reasonable explanation. “Well then sign me up” she laughs before retreating out of the room.

* * *

Later, they’ve moved past pick-up lines and are discussing other flirting techniques. Cheryl gave tips on how to dress to seduce, she advised Betty to wear short skirts to show off her legs as apparently their one of Jughead’s biggest weaknesses. Toni filled her in on Jughead’s likes and dislikes. She should talk about books, murder documentaries, any conspiracy theories (except flat earth) and old cinema. This seemed simple, in fact Betty thinks she might actually have things in common with Jughead. She should also avoid talking about sports, veganism, and diet soda.

“Ok,” Veronica sits up from her place on the bed, pulling Betty to stand with her, “enough talk. We need to see Betty in action. Pretend I’m Jughead and show me what you’ve got.”

Betty gawks at Veronica and lets out a nervous chuckle. “What,” she glances over to Cheryl and Toni for help, but they look at her expectantly “what do you want me to do?”

“Just flirt with me.” she shrugs. When Betty doesn’t respond Veronica huffs. “Come on Betty, if you can’t do it here, with me, in the privacy of your room, then how do you expect to flirt with Jughead in front of everybody at school?”

Betty gulps, squeezing her eyes shut and hyping herself up in her head. “Ok.” she whispers to herself before beginning. “Heyyy, Jughead” she says sweetly, placing her hand on Veronica’s shoulder, then psyching herself out, quickly pulling it away.

Veronica ignores the initial slip and continues to act as Jughead, “Betty, hi! What’s up?”

Betty opens and closes her mouth for a second, trying to figure out what to say next “Uhm, I was just-uh” she shuffles her weight from one foot to the other, then attempts to sexily pop her hip out. “I was going to ask if you’re tired? Because you’ve been running through my head all day.” Then she’s attempting to casually flick her hair to the side, but it ends up whipping her in the face, and she must push away the strands that get stuck to her lip gloss.

Veronica looks absolutely horrified by the end of it, while Toni and Cheryl are trying their very hardest not to burst into laughter. “What. The fuck. Was that?” Veronica gapes.

Betty fumbles for a response before Toni pipes up from their left “Have you ever actually flirted with a guy Betty?” she laughs.

“What? Yes of course. I dated a guy for a whole 6 months!” Betty defends hastily. Toni looks sceptical of this, so she continues “It’s true, at my last school I dated a guy named Adam. But I mean I guess I didn’t actually do much flirting, we were just kind of friends, until suddenly we weren’t anymore.”

She can hear Veronica muttering something about having so much work to do. Cheryl has remained silent, but Betty guesses she’s just holding herself back from saying something mean and Toni is giving her a sympathetic look. “Don’t worry about it.” She assures. “We’ll have you sweeping Jones off his feet in no time.”

* * *

Thankfully for the rest of the week, Betty hadn’t seen much of Jughead, which means she has more time to practice how to flirt with him. She spends most of her weekend practicing lines on herself in the mirror and perfecting her hair twirl and giggle.

When Monday morning rolls around, she’s fully psyched herself up for her biology lesson, and made a rough plan on how she’ll flirt with him for the hour. At lunch, Veronica gives her a brief pep talk, and then she’s left alone to finish the final episode of the Ripper documentary.

However, during the 45 minutes between seeing Veronica and her lesson, her nerves had been slowly bubbling to the surface and as she sits at her desk, anxiously watching the door for her partner to walk through, she’s overthinking everything.

_Oh god, I’m going to make a complete idiot out of myself._

_He’s going to see right through me. I’m a terrible liar. He’ll figure out our plan!_

_I can’t do this, I can’t do this_

“Betty, hey!” She’s snapped out of her spiralling thoughts as Jughead throws his backpack below the desk and settles into the seat beside her. Betty quickly remembers to smile back at him and returns a small ‘hi’.

She struggles to get a conversation in with him after that, as Mr Morgan rambles on about DNA replication. Eventually, his presentation comes to an end and they’re set off to do independent work, and Betty lets out a sigh of relief. _Ok, it’s time I can do this._

“Uhm hey Jug, think you could help me with this question, I’m kind of stuck” she asks softly, quickly remembering to twirl her ponytail and batter her eyelashes. Jughead is happy to help and slowly guides her through the process of the double helix unwinding, making sure she’s still following him after each step. She leans in closer so their shoulders touch and when he’s finished explaining the answer, she bites her lip when thanking him.

_I need to keep talking, what did Toni say he liked again?_

She remembers he likes documentaries, and asks him if he’s watched the one she’s currently bingeing. This steers into talk of other shows and movies and soon enough Betty is confessing her childhood crushes.

“Wait, you had a crush on Danny Phantom?” he laughs, shaking his head “He’s literally a cartoon”

A blush spreads across her cheeks, “Oh come on, like you never had a crush on a cartoon?” she defends.

He thinks for a moment before adding “Yeh, I used to convince myself I liked Space Jam for the basketball, turns out I was just in denial of my crush on Lola Bunny”.

Betty throws her head back in a laugh at that. This turns out to be an incredible mistake because she realises too late that all her weight is tilting back on the stool. She feels like her life flashes before her eyes as she plummets to the floor.

She has never been so embarrassed. And it hurts like a bitch.

Jughead is out of his seat in a flash, hovering over her. “Oh my god Betty are you alright?”

Mr Morgan has rushed over too, and Betty is so humiliated. She stands back up and rubs the back of her head, forcing out an awkward laugh.

“Yeh I’m fine.”

“Do you want to see the nurse” Morgan asks, concern written all over his face.

“Promise. I think I hurt my ego more than anything.” _And I’ve blew my one shot with Jughead_ she thinks. _He’s going to think I’m a complete idiot._

Once the teacher is sure Betty hasn’t gotten a concussion, she’s back in her stool, face burning red, and kicking herself she ruined her good conversation with Jughead.

Then there’s a spark of hope when he says, “You know,” Betty glances over at him, wide eyed and notices he’s barely containing his own laughter, “I’ve never made a girl laugh so hard that she’s fallen off her chair.”

Betty’s mouth falls open and her eyes widen even further and then she’s playfully slapping his arm. “Shut up”, she grumbles. This snaps his revolve, and Jughead cracks up. Soon they’re both in a fit of giggles.

They continue to snicker about the incident until the end of the class. As Betty is packing up her books and makes to leave, she feels Jughead pulling her back gently by the elbow. “Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out this weekend?” he asks almost shyly.

“Like a date?” she draws out, with one eyebrow quirked.

“Yeh- uhm” he coughs into his fist “Yes. A date.”

Betty pretends to think about it for a second, tilting her head to the side. _Jackpot_ she thinks smugly. “Sounds good”.

Jughead beams at that. “Cool, I’ll text you.”

Betty is just about to ask how he’ll text her without getting her number, but he’s already sauntering out of the classroom. She shrugs it off and decides he’ll probably catch her later in the week.

Now she can’t wait to tell the girls the good news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thankyou so much for reading! I'm on Tumblr if anyone wants to hang or see me shitpost @Bxtty-Jxnes


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Group chat shenanigans and Bughead's first date!

Friday night rolls around and Betty is preparing for her first date with Jughead. He had asked to take her to the Twilight drive-in to see some new thriller that had just released. Veronica had said it was an ideal situation because Betty could pretend to be scared of the movie and snuggle closer to Jughead. Cheryl agreed and stated that “the privacy of the car would be perfect for some alone time” with a wink. Yet so far, Betty has seemed to notice that planning her actions has never ended well, and she has gotten closer with Jughead by just being herself. 

On Wednesday, they had sat together in the library during a free period. At first Betty had tried to use some of the flirting tips the girls had given her, but she ended up sounding awkward and fumbled to find her words. Jughead had asked if she was feeling ok or if she wanted to see the school nurse. Miraculously, she had recovered and declined his offer with a nervous laugh before they started a discussion about the show ‘Stranger Things’ where Betty gave her well-practiced and passionate speech about how Billy deserved better, and Jughead whole-heartedly agreed. This turned into giggling about the dynamics of the scoop troop and being hushed by the librarian a few times.

So yes, Betty has come to realise that she didn’t really need to twirl her hair and constantly compliment Jughead to impress him. She just had to be herself and that was a huge relief.

After adding the last few strokes of mascara to her lashes, Betty walks over to her full-length mirror and runs her hands through her curled hair. She’s wearing a black tie strap shift dress with a white long sleeved t-shirt underneath. Snapping a quick picture, she sends it to the group chat that Cheryl had insisted upon making.

 **Toni:** Looks great! Jughead’s probably going to pass out when he sees you.

 **Cheryl:** Cute but it would be even better without the shirt underneath.

 **Betty:** It’s cold outside

 **Cheryl:** Yes, but you’re going to be in a car, and you’ve got a great set of boobs you can show off

 **Toni:** If things go well tonight, the shirt might not stay on anyways 😉

 **Veronica:** Love it B! What shoes are you gonna wear?

 **Betty:** Probably just my converse.

 **Cheryl:** *eye roll emoji*

 **Veronica:** Oh, you know I have some cute heels you could borrow? I’ll have my driver Smithers drop them off before Jughead gets there…

 **Betty:** My shoes are fine, and anyways Jughead is gonna be here in like 5 minutes, not even Smithers could get here that quick.

Betty can see the 3 little bubbles indicating Veronica is typing a response, but she clicks off her phone and shoves it into her small shoulder bag. Grabbing her shoes and jacket, she trots down the stairs and slumps herself onto the couch to tie up her laces.

Alice rounds the corner from the kitchen with a warm smile and large glass of red wine. “Excited for your date sweetheart?”

“Uh yeh, I guess.” Betty shrugs moving to tie up the opposite shoe.

“That’s good,” Alice ponders for a moment, leaning on the wall’s corner. “Just be careful- “

“Jesus mom!” Betty cries, her jaw slack. “It’s our first date, I’m not going to be doing anything like-“ Betty fumbles, her hands shooting in all directions as if trying to grasp for the right words. “That!”

Alice just sighs. “If you had let me finish, I was actually going to say that you should be careful with that boy. You’re a nice girl Betty, and I don’t want to see you becoming somebody I know you’re not to try and hurt him.” 

Betty frowns “Mom, don’t worry about it. The worst that will happen is he’ll get dumped and his pride will be a little bruised.” At that, Alice tilts her head in the way Betty hates, because she knows it means her mother disapproves and its frustrating as hell. She jumps up from the couch and argues “Look, it’s a few dates and then I let him down, don’t look at me like that. Trust me, Jughead deserves this, he’s a total player.”

“Who are you trying to convince here Betty?”

Her irritation starts to swell up, and Betty has to swallow back her next words before she starts an argument with Alice.

Suddenly the doorbell is piercing through the tense silence and Betty’s head snaps towards it. She quickly grabs her bag and runs to answer the door, without another glance in Alice’s direction.

When Betty swings the door open, Jughead is leaning back on his heels, hands stuffed in his jacket pocket and staring down at his beaten-up sneakers. His gaze shoots up when he hears the door, and then Betty sees his jaw quickly drop and then clench shut again when his eyes look over her.

Finally, Jughead snaps out of it and gulps. “Hey Betts!”

Betty smiles and steps outside, slowly closing the door behind herself. “Hi” she responds shyly. She thinks he looks cute, taking in the dark curl that falls over his eyes and bashful smile.

“You ready?” Jughead asks, jamming his thumb over his shoulder towards his parked car.

She chirps back a ‘yep’ before biting her lip and grabbing his hand to pull him along.

* * *

Slowly chewing on a Twizzler, Betty’s eyes shift to her left where Jughead seems to be entranced by the movie. They haven’t had much chance to talk since arriving, as Jughead had immediately set off for some snacks and once he returned the movie was already starting. She remembers him mentioning how much he hates when people talk over films earlier this week, so she’s been reluctant to start a conversation.

When she takes the final few sips of her sprite, Jughead finally manages to peel his eyes from the screen to ask if she wants a refill. After she politely declines, he’s back to watching the cheerleader being brutally stabbed in the chest by the masked killer. Before she realises, Betty is loudly sighing in mild annoyance.

Jughead’s head whips back to her again and his eyes widen slightly. “Hey, you ok?” he asks, placing a delicate hand on her shoulder.

Betty is quick to nod her head, annoyed at herself for letting the sigh slip out. “Yeh-yes.” She remembers to smile to reassure him. “I just,” her mind races for an excuse. “I kind of got into an argument with my mom before we left. It’s no big deal though, really.”

Jughead seems unconvinced. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No, it’s fine really.” She insists, taking another quick bite of candy before turning back to the movie. “Let’s just enjoy this.”

After a few moments, he finally relents his concerned stare and focuses back on the screen.

* * *

About an hour in, the movie has grown more intense as the main protagonist is hiding from the killer who’s somewhere in the house. Looking down, Betty finds Jugheads’ hand resting on the centre console between them and sees her opportunity. She waits for the perfect moment, where the killer reveals himself in a jump scare, to grab his hand with her own.

Jughead’s initial shock quickly wears off, and then he looks over to give her a coy smile before squeezing her hand back. Their hands stay linked throughout the rest of the film, and both sneak shy glances at one another. Once the credits begin to roll, Jughead reluctantly slips his hand out of hers to stretch them above his head as he yawns. Betty’s disappointments fades however as he then lands it on her thigh.

“Tired?” she giggles.

“No, but I am feeling rather ravenous, fancy a pop’s?”

“First of all, you just ate your own weight in popcorn how can you possibly be hungry?” she laughs. “Secondly, what the hell is a pop’s?”

Jughead just smirks at her, before turning the keys to start the engine. As it purrs to life, he says “You Betty Cooper, have a lot to learn.”

* * *

Pop’s, she discovers, is a small diner and when she steps inside, she feels like she’s entered a portal to the 1960’s. Jughead tugs her along to a booth at the back, pushes her towards the window and then slides in beside her. As he settles in, his arm comes up to rest along her shoulders. He then decides to share the menu Betty had picked up rather than grabbing his own, which results in the side of his face smushing up against her own. 

“What’s good here?” she asks, eyes scanning the large menu.

“Everything.”

When the server comes, Betty decides on a grilled cheese and glass of water, while Jughead asks for a triple cheeseburger with extra pickles, fries, and a strawberry milkshake.

When he notices the bewildered look on her face he just shrugs and says, “My appetite knows no bounds Betts.” 

After their food promptly arrives, they’re chuckling over how many clichés the movie jammed in and Jughead recites the time he won $100 in a burger eating contest. Then he shows Betty the exquisiteness that is dipping fries in a milkshake. Jughead’s arm does not move from its spot, draped along her shoulders.

Betty insists on paying the cheque when they’re finished, since Jughead bought the snacks at the drive-in, but he manages to negotiate her into at least halving it with him.

* * *

On the drive back to her house, they sit in comfortable silence as Harry Styles’ Cherry hums in the background. When he pulls up outside her front door Betty feels unsure of what to say next.

Turning to him she finally murmurs “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

Jughead smiles and replies “Yeh, me too.”

After another few seconds of quiet, their eyes lock and she doesn’t know who leans in first, but their lips meet in the middle for a delicate kiss. His lips are pillowy and soft, and Betty decides it’s a really good kiss. Then, all too soon, he pulls back with a smile, licking her strawberry gloss from his bottom lip.

She lets out a small laugh, before her hand grabs the car door handle. “Goodnight Jug.” She almost whispers.

“Goodnight Betts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyouuuu for reading- I hope you enjoyed! Any comments and kudos mean the world :)   
> Hang with me on Tumblr @Bxtty-Jxnes


	5. Chapter 5

3 weeks since her first date with Jughead had passed. They had grown a lot closer, often sitting together during their free periods and constantly texting when weren’t at school. Jughead had also taken her on 2 other dates. One was to the Riverdale roller rink, where Jughead had spent most of the time flat on his ass (it turned out he was actually pretty terrible at roller skating) and the other was dinner at some new Japanese restaurant where Betty tried sushi for the first time and loved it. They had also shared a few more tender kisses, but so far none had strayed any further than PG rated.

On more than one occasion, Betty had found her mind running wild with thoughts of Jughead. In English, she had completely zoned out, while Mrs Grundy droned on about the imagery used in Macbeth. She had been dreaming about the deep blue of Jughead’s eyes and his thick inky locks that she was desperate to run her hands through. That train of thought derailed quickly though when Mrs Grundy’s stern ‘Miss Cooper, pay attention!’ pulled her back to reality.

Betty had to scold herself when this happened though. She was determined to not get distracted from the plan at hand, and she couldn’t be compromised by actually falling for Jughead’s good looks and charm. But with each new wink he sent her from across the dinner hall and dumb meme he sent at stupid hours of the morning, her thoughts of him were becoming more regular and harder to ignore.

* * *

The evening after her 4th official date with Jughead (another movie, but this time it was a comedy and at the Bijou) the girls had all gathered at Betty’s house for some updates on how everything was going. Betty informed them of the how the dates had gone, and the ‘progress’ she had made with him, however this time she was more reluctant to indulge them with every detail. Some moments with Jughead she found herself to treasure and she didn’t want to taint them.

“Sooo” Toni drawled while she waggled her eyebrows. Betty shot her a confused look.

“What?”

“What happened after you guys kissed?”

“Did you do it in the back of his car?” Cheryl cut in with a wicked grin.

“What?” Betty gasped “No, we kissed and then he drove me home.”

“Oh come on,” It was Veronica’s turn to chime in now. “He didn’t even take a quick detour to Sweetwater for some privacy?” she probed in disbelief.

Betty just shook her head, and all 3 girls faces fell in slight disappointment.

“Ugh I thought you’d have some more juicy details than this Bettsy.” Cheryl drones. “What a waste of my time.”

Betty just rolls her eyes and mutters “Sorry to disappoint.”

Suddenly Veronica jumps up from her spot on the bed, skips over to her handbag and pulls out 2 bottles of wine. “Well Cher,” she challenges handing over a bottle to the red-head “not a complete waste of time. Archie Andrews bailed on our date tonight so I must drown my sorrows with some girlfriends.”

Cheryl debates the offer for a while before finally agreeing to stay to hand out a little while longer.

* * *

A few hours later, the bottles are empty, and the girls are all slightly tipsy. Cheryl and Toni are laying on their stomachs, side-by-side across the bed, while Veronica perches on the vanity chair and Betty sits cross-legged on the floor. They’re exchanging the stories of their first kisses and giggling at Cheryl’s horrifically slobbery first kiss with Moose Mason, when Betty’s phone chimes from her bed-side table. They all turn to where it lights up, and as Betty makes a move to grab it, Cheryl intercepts and snatches it instead.

“Oh my god” she laughs. Betty’s stomach does a small flip, and she reaches over to grab it back from Cheryl. When she looks at the screen, she sees the notification

_Message from Jughead_

“What? What is it?” Veronica asks urgently, standing up to look over Betty’s shoulder. Looking up, Betty sees Toni snickering as Cheryl whispers in her ear.

“Nothing, it’s just Jughead.” Betty shrugs, trying to remain cool about the situation.

Veronica’s face beams “Oh my god, open it I wanna see.”

Betty doesn’t respond at first, until Cheryl urges her with a “Come on Bettsy” and a forward nudge of her head.

Betty caves and flops onto the bed as the girls surround her. Swiping along the message it reads

****

**_Jughead_ ** _: Hey Betts, you busy?_

Immediately Cheryl orders her “Do not say you are busy; we can have some fun with this!”

“I don’t know how I feel about this Cheryl.” Betty mutters, staring at the blinking cursor waiting for her response.

“Don’t worry about it, we’re just going to tease him a little.”

**Betty:** No, not busy. What’s up?

 **Jughead:** Super bored and missing you 😉

“Oh this is gold” Veronica giggles from behind her.

“What should I say?” Betty asks. Veronica just holds her hand out for Betty to pass the phone over.

**Betty:** Oh yeh? What are you missing about me?

Betty shrieks when Veronica passes the phone back and she sees what she’s text. “What are you doing?”. Her panic rises even further when she sees the 3 dots next to Jughead’s name continue to pop up and disappear, indicating he’s unsure of how to reply, meanwhile Toni and Cheryl are struggling to catch their breath from laughter. After what feels like a lifetime, her phone pings again with a response.

**Jughead:** Everything, although I am missing your pretty face the most.

Betty feels a blush creep up from beneath her shirt to her neck, spreading up and along her cheeks. She bites her lip nervously, her and Jughead had never flirt this heavily before.

“You should send him a selfie.” Toni eagerly suggests. The others all agree and soon Betty finds herself lying down on her bed, her head resting on her pillows while Cheryl fans her hair out around her and Veronica adjusts her shirt to show a teasing hint of cleavage. Toni then hands her the phone, and Betty spends the next 5 minutes trying to snap the best selfie, trying all different angles and facial expressions. 

She settles on one where she’s sporting a small smile as she bites her lip. Her hair looks like a golden halo around her head and the angle is very flattering for her chest. Betty knows without the small buzz of alcohol right now, she would be a complete mess of nerves as she hits send on the picture. But for the first time in a while, Betty is having fun with some friends, flirting with a guy who actually likes her and those constant worries that linger in the back of her mind have been silenced.

Eagerly waiting for his reply, the girls all huddle around the phone which sits in the middle of the bed while they perch along the edges. When the screen lights up and the ping of the notification breaks the heavy silence, Betty practical pounces for the device.

**Jughead:** Fuck, you’re beautiful

Toni actually ‘awws’ at that and Cheryl shoots her a mean glare, while Betty feels her stomach warm with something she’s sure is akin to affection. Once again, she’s unsure of what to say next, so Cheryl takes the reins and responds for her.

**Betty:** What I don’t get one back?

Soon enough, Jughead sends back a selfie of himself shirtless in bed, with his fluffball of a dog named ‘Hotdog’ lying beside him asleep. 

Betty had to snatch the phone from Cheryl’s grasp when she had begun to type ‘I want to run my tongue over your pecks’ and furiously hammered the delete button.

“Come on Betty, you and Jughead need to be more intimate if we really want him to fall for you.”

Betty rolls her eyes out that and bites her tongue from arguing that Jughead seems to like her as she is already. While they spend time arguing over how Betty should respond, Veronica taking Betty’s side and agreeing that she should do things at her own pace, while Cheryl and Toni are insisting that they should help her type back a sexy response, Betty’s ringtone starts to play and they’re all shocked into silence. Jughead’s name flashes across the screen.

“Shit!” Betty practically screams, hurriedly dropping the phone as if it’s burning her hands. “What do I do? Should I ignore it?”

“No do not ignore it.” Veronica insists. Picking the phone up from where it lies face down on the floor and passing it back into Betty’s hesitant hands.

Betty remains still for a moment, staring down at the device before finally gaining the nerve to accept the call.

_“Betty hi.”_ Jughead breathes over the phone, Betty thinks he sounds slightly nervous.

_“Hi.”_

_“Sorry, I know I don’t usually call, but I kind of got nervous when you didn’t reply. I’m sorry if I came on too strong.”_

Betty gulps, while the others stare at her wildly, eager to know what he’s saying on the other end. They begin to mutter orders at her, Cheryl demanding to put him on speaker, while Veronica is gesturing for her to keep talking.

_“Betty? You still there?”_

_“Yes!” she almost shouts. “Yes. Sorry. And don’t apologise, I mean I was the one who started it.”_ She turns away from the girls, their harsh whispers and mixed messages are doing anything but helping her right now.

 _“Ok good.”_ He sighs and the relief is evident in his voice.

 _“And anyways, I kind of liked it.”_ She teases in a coy voice. Maybe the alcohol hadn’t completely worn off yet. She can hear Veronica’s proud gasp from behind her and smirks to herself.

_“You did?”_

_“Yeh, didn’t you?”_

_“Yes, definitely.”_ It’s silent again for a second, both unsure of what this means for them now. It’s soon broken by Jughead’s gulp down the line. _“Hey so, uh, my dad’s out of town on Friday.”_ Betty’s eyes widen and she has a quick intake of breath. _“Do you maybe wanna hang out? We could watch a movie or something.”_

 _“Yeh that sounds…. great!”_ she tries to hide the nerves she feels as she speaks the words. _“I can finally meet the renowned ‘Hotdog’”_

He laughs at that and states _“Cool. It’s a date.”_

 _“It’s a date.”_ She echoes.

_“Bye Betts.”_

_“Bye Juggie.”_

Tapping the end call button, Betty can’t fight off her grin as she swivels around to 3 sets of eager eyes, awaiting an explanation.

“Spill” Toni demands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My works are unbeta'd so I apologise for any mistakes. As always I hope you enjoyed :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty asks Jughead about his past, and things start to heat up ;)

Betty didn’t know what to expect when going to Jughead’s house. With his dad out of town, she was nervous about the implications that may come with being home alone with the boy she’s been dating the past few weeks. But these nerves also came with unexpected sparks of excitement at taking things further with Jughead. She scolded herself multiple times after catching herself feeling giddy throughout the week at the thought of what Friday night could bring. _This is all an act_ she would mutter to herself before another voice would creep up and whisper _If it’s an act why does he make you feel this happy?_

This unwanted voice would be quickly dispelled but its ’words would linger in the back of her mind for many more hours.

* * *

At 6 o’clock on the dot, she was skipping up the front steps to Jughead’s home. After ringing the doorbell, she could hear a loud bark echo through the house on the other side of the door. Soon after, it was swinging open, and Betty was only given a second to see Jughead’s warm smile before a large ball of white fur was barrelling past him and bouncing up into her arms.

Betty quickly caught the weight of the dog, before bending down to give him a good scratch.

“Down Hotdog!” Jughead yelled before pulling the pup back by his collar.

“It’s ok.” Betty reassured him before returning her attention back to Hotdog “You’re just excited, aren’t you? Yes, you are. Oh, you’re a good boy.” She cooed in a baby voice, ruffling the fur on his head. Eventually she stood back up, and Jughead ushered her into the house. The sheepdog followed behind at her feet, his tail still wagging in excitement.

Jughead lead her through to the kitchen, offering a can of soda and a snack. He seemed slightly nervous, which she hadn’t seen in him since the first date a few weeks ago. “So,” he started, picking at the tab of his cola can.

“Sooo” Betty laughed after it seemed he wasn’t going to finish the sentence.

“I was thinking we could watch a movie upstairs.” Betty begins to voice her response when he panics and adds “O-or we could watch it in the living room. It’s no big deal” he rushes.

“Upstairs is good”.

Jughead pulls out a large meaty bone to keep Hotdog entertained for some time, before the pair trail upstairs. Upon entering Jughead’s bedroom, Betty notes that it’s surprisingly tidy; the bed is made, and the floor is clear of any items that usually scatter a teenage boy’s bedroom. Betty then wonders if it’s always like this or if he cleaned it just for her.

There’s a TV attached to the wall and Jughead begins to fiddle with some wires where the game console is plugged into it. Betty decides to browse his selection of games on the shelf while he sets it up. Running her fingers along the spines she stops when she lands on Mario Kart.

“You any good?” she asks, picking it from its spot nestled in the shelf. Jughead spins around from where he’s crouched and then shrugs.

“I’m alright, I guess. I only bought it for my sister when she comes to visit.” Betty notes that his sister must live elsewhere and files it away for a later conversation. “Why, do you play?” he asks when he’s finished connecting the console up to the TV. He comes to stand behind her as they scan the case together.

“Uh yeh. I used to anyways.” she replies turning to face him.

He gently plucks it from her hands and holds it up “Want a game now?” he grins.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Betty shakes her head gently. “Maybe another time.”

Soon enough they’re sitting side by side with their legs spread out on the bed, backs propped up with the pillows and Netflix set up on the large TV in front of them. They settle on watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which they’ve both already seen too many times, but decide to restart from the beginning again anyways.

About halfway through the third episode, Betty can feel Jughead’s eyes flicking between her and the TV. Somehow, gradually, their bodies had shifted closer to one another and their pinkies were now brushing where their hands lay between them. With a deep breath, Betty decides to be brave and grips his hand with her own, before intertwining their fingers.

In her peripheral, she sees Jughead has fully turned his head towards her now and so she does the same. Their eyes lock, and Betty feels like time moves in slow motion as their bodies begin to lean toward one another. Jughead’s hand reaches out to rest on her cheek and pull her closer in and finally their lips meet in the middle.

Everything fades into the background as her and Jughead make out languidly. After a few minutes, Jugheads hand begins to trail down her side, gently brushing her shoulders and hips, before his arm wraps around her back and crushes her body against his own. Betty can’t fight off the smile that spreads across her face, which causes her teeth to clack with Jughead’s, and both of them begin to giggle.

Jughead collapses onto her and buries his laugh into the crook of her neck, and Betty gets a face full of his dark, unruly hair. As she slips an arm out from where its crushed between them to run her hand through it, Jughead’s starts to press kisses along her neck. Making his way up her jaw, and scattering them along her cheeks, he places one final lingering kiss on her lips before pulling back to look at her again.

Betty bites her lip; she can’t deny how happy she feels around him anymore. Jughead makes her stomach flutter and her heart burst like nobody ever had before. It makes her incredibly frustrated that the stories she’s been told about Jughead from her friends, the picture she had painted and the expectations she’d had of him do not line up with the boy she’s spent time with these past few weeks.

As their noses brush against one another and their bodies are still crushed together, Betty blurts out “Tell me about your exes.” Jughead seems to stiffen above her for a second, and Betty instantly regrets what she said, pulling her gaze down from his in embarrassment and distracting herself by playing with the edge of his collar. Quickly, she tries to retract her words. “I mean you don’t have to!” she stammers. “I’m just curious is all.”

Risking a glance back up at Jughead, she expects him to be angry or horrified. Instead, she sees him biting back a grin. Quirking an eyebrow, she huffs out a small breath. “What’s so funny?”

Jughead just shakes his head, and laughs, one hand holding himself up above her and the other stroking down her arm. “Nothing. Just sort of a mood kill.” Then he flops back down beside her, pulling her into his chest. “You really want to know about my ex-girlfriends?” he asks earnestly.

Betty nods against his chest.

Jughead shuffles a bit, eyes cast up to the ceiling before he grabs one of her hands that was resting on his chest to toy with her fingers. “Uh well first there was Toni. She used to live next door before her parents split so we kind of grew up together. Then the summer before sophomore year I kissed her, and we started dating. It kind of felt expected of us you know? Childhood friends finally fall in love.” Betty stays silent but presses a small kiss against his chest. “We dated for like 6 months, and we were each other’s firsts for almost everything. But the whole romantic side of our relationship was forced, we had no spark and we both knew it. Toni was the first one to finally have the courage to end things, and she dumped me on Valentines day.” He says the last part with a laugh, and Betty scowls, burying her head further into him.

“That’s awful.” She declares.

She feels his shrug beneath her before he continues. “Anyways a few weeks later, Cheryl Blossom approaches me with a proposal to fake date for a while. She had just been dumped by Moose and she thought we could use it as a way to make our exes jealous. I was hesitant at first, obviously, I mean it was Cheryl.” Betty laughs at that. “But eventually I agreed, and we fake dated for like 2 months. Then at a party one night, we got absolutely hammered and ended up sleeping together. From there I guess we just kept sleeping together and started dating for real. Soon enough, Toni did get jealous; she came to me asking to get back together, but I was with Cheryl, so I turned her down.”

When it seems like he’s came to a stop, Betty looks up at him and strokes a lock of his hair back from his forehead. “So how did you guys break up?” she asks.

Jughead sighs again, before biting his lip and debating whether or not he should continue. “Ok just promise me you won’t think I’m a dick?”

Betty offers him a warm smile from where her chin rests against his chest. Hooking her pinkie with his she vows “Pinkie promise I won’t think you’re a dick.”

Feeling satisfied with her response, Jughead sighs and proceeds. “So Cheryl and I we were _passionate”_ he cringes at the last part.

“You guys had a lot of sex?” Betty asks nonchalantly.

Jughead huffs a small laugh “Yeh. But I mean that’s all we did. We didn’t exactly go on dates, hell we barely actually talked. We were more a friends with benefits situation if anything. And it was fun at first, but eventually I started to want more, so I took Cheryl on a date to some fancy restaurant. Turned out the reason we barely talked was because we didn’t have much to talk about, I mean we had very little in common. I guess Toni and Cheryl were like the complete opposites; with Toni we got along amazing but we didn’t have that chemistry. And with Cheryl we had the chemistry but we were barely even friends. So anyways, I ended things with Cheryl the next day. She didn’t take it so well, but I think I hurt her ego more than I broke her heart to be honest. Cheryl cares way to much about what people think of her and I guess being dumped doesn’t look too good.”

Betty pulls herself up when he finishes and leans over to give him a long, fervent kiss. When she finally pulls away, she strokes his cheek with her thumb and murmurs “Thankyou for being honest.”

“Well,” he chuckles. “I’m not finished yet.” Betty rolls her eyes playfully, dropping back down onto his chest.

“Well get on with it Romeo.”

“Ok, so after Cheryl, Veronica Lodge rolls into town from New York. She’s beautiful and popular and for some reason she’s into me. After everything that happened, I was reluctant to start something new, but Ronnie convinced me into at least 1 date. Surprisingly, the date was good, we had a lot in common, she made me laugh and I was actually attracted to her. So we went on more dates and I asked her to be my girlfriend. Then, about 8 months in, some shit happened with my family. My parents had been fighting for a while and eventually my mom had had enough. She took off one day with my little sister while I was at school, left a note saying they were moving to Toledo to stay with my grandparents. Guess I missed the invite.”

“Juggie,” Betty whispers when she notices the lump in his throat. She presses a kiss to his cheek with a concerned look. When he shakes his head softly with a weak smile, she tucks back into his side, her arm wrapping tighter around his torso.

“Well anyways,” he swallows “I was too embarrassed to admit that my own mother had left me so I kept it a secret and began pulling away from everybody, including Veronica. I could tell she was starting to get pissed at me moping around all day and not knowing why but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth. So, I decided to spare her and ended things.”

Once he’s ended, they sit in silence again for a few moments. It’s broken by Betty whispering “Jug,”. He turns to look at her then, raising his eyebrows for her to continue. “Who else did you tell about your mom? Did Veronica ever find out the real reason you broke up with her?”. When he doesn’t respond, Betty’s heart breaks and she collapses onto him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her nose into his hair.

When she pulls back to look at him again, he’s blinking away the tears that are threatening to spill over. He finally manages to croak out “You’re the first person I’ve told.”

Betty doesn’t know what to say. Every preconception she’d ever had of Jughead: ‘heartless, self-absorbed, privileged player’ was so incredibly untrue. He had been nothing but sweet, caring and sensitive with her, he’d trusted her with a secret he hadn’t shared with anybody else before. Her heart feels like it’s exploding out of her chest and she doesn’t know how to express the sheer adoration she’s feeling for him in words, so instead she decides to show him by grabbing both sides of his face and giving him the most fierce kiss possible. Jughead returns it with just as much searing intensity, pulling himself up and then flipping their positions so he’s hovering over Betty once again. 

Betty’s hands run down his back, while Jugheads are tangled in her hair. She gasps when he bites her bottom lip and then sooths it with his tongue. After a few minutes, they’re both panting and out of breath so he reluctantly tears his lips away. Pressing their foreheads together, Jughead’s eyes are closed as he whispers “I’m falling for you Betty Cooper.”

Her face beams. “I’m falling for you too Jughead Jones.”

He goes back in to kiss her again, before he pauses to ask “Even with my major mommy issues?”. Although he’s joking there’s still a hint of concern laced in there.

Betty just laughs in reply, before leaning up to catch his lips in another kiss. “Definitely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo, I told you Jughead wasn't a bad guy. Poor dude isn't so good at communicating his feelings and he's had it rough, but Betty's helping him :)   
> I hope you enjoyed, thankyou for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some cute Bughead moments, and some not so cute moments with Betty's girl friends

Betty didn’t end up leaving Jughead’s house until past midnight. They had spent hours just talking and sharing kisses, both sweet and playful or long and lustful. After Jughead had poured his heart out to her about his mother leaving, Betty had decided to share with him some of the details about her own past, specifically her long history of father-figures letting her down and having to pack up her life and move every few years. Jughead had lay beside her silently, listening to her vent out her frustrations while rubbing soothing circles on her upper arm. Once she had finished, they had decided to lighten the mood by actually playing a game of Mario-kart. Betty’s Yoshi had ended up kicking Jughead’s character Daisy’s ass. That resulted in him tackling her and ambushing her with tickles and kisses, until she had begged him to stop with a wheeze.

When Betty noticed the late hour, she pushed herself off the bed to leave, but Jughead had pulled her back down by the waist and practically begged her to stay the night. As tempting as the offer had been, Betty didn’t want to rush things with him, so she reluctantly placed one last smooch on his cheek and squirmed her way out of his grasp.

* * *

On Saturday morning, she was rudely awakened by Cheryl, Veronica and Toni barging into her room and demanding details about the night before. Betty was barely able to think at such an early hour, let alone explain to 3 strong headed women that she no longer wanted to be part of their diabolical revenge plan on their ex.

As she was sandwiched between Cheryl and Veronica, she rubbed her bleary eyes and pulled her hair into a loose ponytail. Veronica snuggled her head into the crook of Betty’s shoulder and crooned “Sooo, what happened with you and lover boy last night? Did you finally do the dirty?”

Betty rolled her eyes at that, shrugging Veronica off her shoulder. Jumping off the bed, she swivelled to face the 3 girls, thinking that she must end this now, so that the dark cloud hanging over her and Jughead’s relationship could finally pass.

“First of all, no, Jug and I didn’t do ‘the dirty’” she practically spits the last part.

Cheryl scoffed and Betty knew she was about to make a sarcastic retort about the slow pace of the physical side of their relationship. Taking a deep breath, she finally decided to bite the bullet before Cheryl could comment, “Secondly, I don’t want to be a part of this anymore.”

The girls all looked at her slightly confused. “What do you mean?” Toni laughed nervously, clearly, they either didn’t understand what she meant, or they were reluctant to acknowledge it.

Betty rubbed her palm over her face before she let out a frustrated laugh. She was still half asleep and not prepared for this, but it was too late now. “I mean that I don’t want to be part of your ploy against Jug. I’m out guys, it’s over.”

They all sat stoic and still for a moment, until Cheryl’s face is painted with rage and she’s stalks towards Betty with her hands flaying all around. “You’re quitting?” she cackled almost viciously. “What? Sweet little Bettsy Cooper’s going to act like she actually feels bad for this guy now?”

Biting her lip and swallowing, Betty didn’t back down as Cheryl got in her face. Over the red head’s shoulder though, she noticed Veronica’s brow furrowed in concentration as if putting together the pieces. Soon her face conveyed that she had worked it out.

“You like him.” Veronica stated simply. 

Cheryl swivelled back around to her, before her gaze flicked between both girls.

Veronica continued to stare Betty down, with a quirked eyebrow “It’s true isn’t it. You actually fell for Jughead.”

Cheryl and Toni’s jaw dropped when Betty still didn’t answer her. Veronica scoffed and Betty tried to fight back tears as the friendships she formed with the girls began to crumble right in front of her.

“Really Betty?” Toni then asked sourly, the judgment clear in her eyes. “After everything you know about him, everything he did to us you actually like him?”

Betty got angry at that, the sadness from seconds ago replaced with annoyance. “Everything he did to you?” she exclaimed, her face conveying her complete bewilderment. “Toni, you dumped Jughead, not the other way around.” Then she swivelled back around to Cheryl, “And you didn’t even like him, you liked having sex with him. Don’t pretend like he actually broke your heart Cheryl, all you cared about was people judging you for being dumped.”

The 2 girls were at a loss for words when she finished, and Betty had to unclench her jaw after her small rant. Their three-way stare down was broken however when Veronica piped up again “And what about me?”

When Betty once again was unable to answer, Veronica couldn’t contain her irritation. “What Betty? Come on, tell me what possible excuse could Jughead conjure up to justify breaking my heart? I was a mess for weeks and he couldn’t even give me a real reason for why he broke up with me.”

“V” Betty sighed, “I can’t-“ she had to swallow the lump forming in her throat. “I’m sorry that he hurt you, but it’s not my place to say why he ended things. Jughead’s a good guy and whether or not I do like him, this plan was cruel, and I can’t go through with it.”

Veronica just rolled her eyes and huffed. “Right. Just fuck your friends, right? Who cares if you’re letting them down when you’re getting swept off your feet by the same guy who broke their heart?” She declared sarcastically.

Betty crossed her arms and had to shake her head for a moment to calm her raging thoughts. “As much as it sucks that you were hurt Veronica, this happened almost a year ago!” she cried. “Plus, you’re dating Archie now, why are you so hung up on getting ‘revenge’ on your ex from so long ago?”

Veronica flinched at that, but quickly recovered. “You know what B, it doesn’t matter. Thanks for nothing. Don’t come crying to me when Jughead inevitably dumps you and you have no friends to help you through it.”

At that, Veronica stormed out of the room. With one last lingering scowl directed at Betty, Cheryl and Toni soon followed.

Betty continued to stare at the door for a while after, before finally storming over and slamming it shut. She was conflicted with so many feelings; sorrow that she had lost her only friends, anger at them for holding such strong resentment to a boy who didn’t deserve it and relief that her and Jughead could move forward in their relationship without the plan looming over them.

After heaving a deep sigh, she flopped face first onto her bed, buried head into the quilt and screamed into it.

* * *

Monday morning at school had been rough. The second she stepped through the front doors, Cheryl and Toni had sent her the coldest glares from across the hallway before whispering in each other’s ears no doubt malicious comments about her. Then, between her first and second period, Betty ran into Veronica in the bathrooms, she also shot a stern frown before muttering ‘I was just leaving’ and storming out.

This no doubt left Betty feeling gloomy for the rest of the morning. Well, that was until Jughead had come sauntering over to her table at lunch, where she was sat alone once again, with an episode of Big Mouth playing on her phone. As he slumped into the bench seat beside her, he tugged one earphone from her and stuck it into his own ear. Betty just grinned at him, before placing a quick peck on his cheek.

“Hey.” She breathed, her eyes skimming over his face, while he stared forward at her propped-up screen.

“Hi.” He replied through a mouthful of his chicken sandwich. He dragged his gaze away from the phone to meet her eyes, which he finds filled with mirth. He quirked his eyebrow in response, bringing the sandwich up to her mouth in offer of a bite.

“You’re disgusting.” Betty laughed before leaning down and taking a bite out of the sandwich he was still holding up. When she leant down for a second bite, Jughead pulled his hand away rapidly.

“Hey!” he moaned in mock offence. Betty continued to giggle and Jughead had tried to continue feigning offence at her with a frown, but he eventually cracks and laughs along with her, unable to resist her adorable grin. “What you think its funny stealing my food?”

“You offered it.”

“I offered **one** bite!” he exclaimed. Betty just bit her lip, before a wicked grin passed over her and she once again opened her mouth and chased Jughead’s hand which held the sandwich. “Stop!” he shrieked, dodging her advances. Soon he used his spare hand to push Betty’s forehead away and then shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.

Betty gaped at him, while he looked at her with a smug grin, his cheeks full like a small hamster. When he finally swallowed the last of the food, with extra emphasis in the gulp, he raised his eyebrows at her in challenge. “Oops” he mocked.

Betty’s jaw dropped even further. “Jesus Jug!” she laughed.

“Sorry Betts, I’m just protective over my food.” He shrugged before pushing her chin up with his finger to close her mouth and leaning down for a kiss.

Betty was feeling exhilarated. Despite how much she had enjoyed all the other times she had spent with Jughead, there was always that nagging feeling deep down that all of it was an act, and that eventually it would come to an end. But now, she knows that she really likes Jughead and this isn’t all a lie, there is no end date to their relationship. She also knows that eventually she will have to tell him the truth about how it all started, but right now she just wants to enjoy her time with him and get to know him better, and hopefully he will like and trust her enough to forgive her. 

They returned to watching her phone for a while, Betty offering Jughead some of her grapes in apology for trying to steal his sandwich and him finding ways to constantly tease her, either by prodding her in the ribs or tugging on her hair. When the bell signalling the end of lunch rang, they packed their things away and headed to their shared biology class.

Their teasing and flirty banter continued, which earned them many glares and warnings from Mr Morgan. By the end of the lesson, Betty’s chest ached from all of the laughing. When Jughead grabbed her hand and continued to hold it as they walked out of the classroom, her heart soared. Cheryl shot daggers at her from across the car park when she spotted them walking out together, but Betty was too happy to let it get to her this time.

She also couldn’t refuse his offer for a ride home.

With ‘The Weekend’ blasting through the speakers as they took the long route to her home, they passed by the Sweetwater River lookout spot and Betty had a wicked idea. Turning down the music slightly, she leant over the console to whisper “Let’s make a quick detour.”

Jughead’s eyes flicked between her and the road nervously, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. “What did you have in mind?” he choked back.

Betty just grinned and nipped at his ear lobe.

* * *

After a pretty heavy make out session in his backseat, where several layers of clothing had been shed, Jughead eventually pulled back, breathless. “We should probably head back, your mom might be worried.”

Betty frowned at him in question from where she lay beneath him, as her fingers skimmed over his toned stomach. Her hair had been released from its ponytail at some point and pooled around her head like a halo. “My mom’s at work till 6.” She replied, still panting slightly. Jughead just nodded, and her hands smoothed their way up his arms and around his neck to pull him back down to her.

They continued kissing for a few more minutes, Betty’s hands exploring everywhere they could; stroking his chest, feeling the muscles of his back and gripping onto his hair. But when they brushed down Jughead’s sides and her fingers began to play with the waistband of his jeans he pulled back once again.

“Betts,” he breathed as she peppered kisses along his jaw and down his neck. Betty hummed, still not pulling away. Grabbing her hands with his own, he pinned them lightly on each side of her head. “Betty, we should stop.”

Her eyes widened at that. “Oh, did I do something wrong?” she almost whispered, her panic setting in. “I’m sorry, I’ve never really done this-“

“No! No, baby of course not.” He interrupted her babbling. “This was amazing, but I don’t want any of our first times together to be in the back of my car.” He laughed, removing his weight from her and sitting up.

Betty let out her own laugh, more of relief than anything. “Yeh you’re right. Sorry I just got a little carried away.”

“Don’t be sorry, it was a lot of fun.” He grinned.

Betty bit her lip, before sitting up and pulling his face back in for one last lingering kiss. “You’re sweet.”

Jughead groaned as she pulled back. “Jesus” he muttered. “I’m gonna need a very cold shower.”

Betty just gave him a teasing smirk and giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thankyou so so much for reading! As always I hope you enjoyed.   
> Soak up the fluff now, the road is about to get a little bit bumpy ;)


	8. Chapter 8

A few weeks had passed since Betty’s falling out with the girls, and most of her time had been spent with Jughead. There had been a few dates tucked into a booth at Pop’s, many movie nights snuggled up together in his room (his father was surprisingly relaxed about Jughead having a girl over in his room) and on one occasion, he had taken her to hang with some of his friends and they’d all gotten high in the garage before they snuck off to a bedroom to fool around.

Tonight, they had planned another chilled night in at his house, and Betty was trying to finish her lasagne as quick as possible so she could see him sooner. This doesn’t go unnoticed by Alice who eyes her warily from her seat opposite Betty at the table. “You know,” she smirks, catching Betty’s attention as she looks up from her plate, “from the way you’re eating that, you’d think I’d starved you Betty.”

Betty doesn’t respond at first, instead she slows her jaws movement and makes a point to chew slower. When she finally swallows her mouthful, she shrugs “Sorry, I just don’t want to be late for Jug.”

Alice nods silently, taking a sip from her wine before setting the glass back down again and straightening her back. “You and Jughead seem to be getting serious.” When Betty remains silent, she continues, “And I noticed the girls haven’t been around to see you in a while.”

Betty still doesn’t answer, and Alice lets out a sigh. “Betty. Talk to me. What’s going on?”

Tongue pressed to her cheek; Betty rolls her eyes before giving in. “Nothing. You were right.” Alice makes a face of confusion before she clarifies, “About the ploy against Jughead. How it was a bad idea. I called it off and let’s just say my friends weren’t thrilled about it.”

Alice nods with a sympathetic smile. “Well, I’m proud of you for doing the right thing. I’m sure the girls will come around; they can’t stay mad forever.” Betty huffs a laugh at that muttering ‘we’ll see’ under her breath. Alice chooses to ignore it and continues “And it’s great that Jughead has continued to see you after everything.”

Betty’s eyes widen at that, which Alice once again catches. Avoiding her mother’s concerned look, Betty decides to shove another bite of lasagne into her mouth. “Jesus Betty!” Alice cries, she can read her daughter too well. “You haven’t told him?”

Betty with a mouth still half full of food answers “I haven’t had the chance!” When Alice’s glare doesn’t soften, she adds “Quit judging me! It’s not exactly easy telling the boy you like that you were lying to him and using him for weeks!”

Betty’s eyes begin to well up with tears and she must blink to hold them back. Alice’s face finally softens. Reaching across the table she grabs her daughters’ hand and strokes her thumb over the palms softly. “I know it’s hard Betty, but the longer you wait the more it’s going to hurt the poor boy.”

Betty nods, and a tear manages to trickle its way down her cheek. “I know mom.” she whispers. “But every time I try to tell him I chicken out. I _really_ like him and I’m so afraid that when I tell him the truth, he’s going to hate me.”

“Baby, if this boy likes you as much as I know you like him, he’s not going to hate you. It might take him a little while to come around, but he’ll forgive you.” Betty takes a deep breath and finally pulls her eyes up to meet her mothers. “Trust me. I’ve had plenty of experience with men.”

This earns a small laugh from Betty, before she’s standing from her chair and rounds the table to pull Alice into a tight hug. “Thank you.”

Alice squeezer her tighter, planting a kiss to her temple. “I’m your mom, its my job to tell you when you’re making stupid decisions.” she jokes before adding “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

* * *

Later that night, Betty is once again cuddled up in Jughead’s bed, her head resting on his chest while Hotdog is tucked into her other side and snoring softly. The conversation she had with Alice is niggling in the back of her mind as she tries to watch the latest episode of WandaVision, and it’s setting her whole body on edge. She startles when Jughead lets out a small huff and reaches for the remote to pause the TV; Hotdog seems unimpressed with the movement, opening one eye to glare up at his owner before drifting off back to sleep again.

“You alright?” Jughead asks as he flips onto his side to look at her. Betty realises that he must have noticed her strange mood tonight. Dread begins to pool in her stomach as she also understands that this is the moment she needs to tell Jughead the truth. “Betts?” she must have taken too long to respond as Jughead’s eyes flick over her face in concern and his hand comes up to stroke along her jaw.

Nodding, Betty softly places her hand over his and swallows down the lump that has formed in her throat. However, as soon as she opens her mouth to begin, the distinct slam of the front door echoes through the house, followed by FP’s yell of “Kids, I’m home! And I brought pizza!”

Jughead lets out a small laugh and says, “To be continued.”, before rolling off the bed to greet his father. Meanwhile Betty’s heart is thudding in her chest, she was so close to coming clean and the moment was interrupted. _‘Why is it so hard to tell him?’_ she thinks as she pulls herself from the bed to trail behind him.

* * *

Betty does not get another opportunity to have her talk with Jughead that night. Once the 2 boys had scoffed down their pizza, FP had asked Betty for some fashion advice for his date the following evening, claiming that he couldn’t trust Jughead to help him pick out a nice outfit. After this, Jughead had received a facetime call from his sister, which Betty had insisted he accept considering he barely got to see her. Turns out, Jellybean (who prefers to go by JB now) can really talk. She spends almost 2 hours chatting about her friends at school, teasing Jughead about his new relationship (claiming he’s a ‘total simp’), and showing off all the Tiktok dances she had recently learned.

And as much as Betty had enjoyed her evening bonding with his family, her guilt feels like its eating her alive the longer she must wait to tell him. She tosses and turns all night, feeling restless and annoyed at herself for waiting so long to reveal the truth. She decides she’ll tell him tomorrow, after school. It’ll be a Friday, so they can go on a date somewhere where they won’t be interrupted, and she’ll get everything off her chest.

When she finally falls into a fitful sleep, she dreams of Cheryl and Toni whispering into Jughead’s ear while he looks at her with tear brimmed eyes. Veronica rubs soothing circles into his back while Alice, FP and Jellybean look on at her and shake their heads in disgust.

* * *

The next day at school, Betty and Jughead are lingering at his locker, his arms locked around her waist as she plays with the collar of his shirt. “So, I saw this cool Thai place we could try tonight, you up for it?”. Tonight was the night she was 100% going to tell Jughead the truth, and she needed to go somewhere there would be no interruptions.

“Yeah, that sounds,” Jughead trails off, as he sees a blur of red stalking towards him. Betty looks at him puzzled, before twisting around to follow his line of sight. When she sees who is heading her way, her stomach sinks.

“Jughead Jones” Cheryl practically purrs. Then she turns her head in her direction. "Oh, and Betty Cooper. So glad I could catch the two of you.” She shoves a pink flyer into each of their hands. Skimming its contents Betty sees printed in bold:

**Blossom mansion bash**

“Party at my place tonight. You both must come.”

Jughead turns to Betty to gage her reaction but her face remains stoic. “Actually Cheryl, we just made plans for dinner tonight.” He responds with a slight wince.

The vicious grin painted on Cheryl’s face does not budge. “Nonsense. You can grab dinner any night, right Betty? Blossom parties are practically world renowned.”

“I’m not much of a party person Cheryl.” Betty finally speaks up, unconsciously leaning her weight further into Jughead.

“I won’t take no for an answer. You guys don’t need to stay too long, showing your faces will satisfice.” Betty knows deep down this is some sort of trap, but Cheryl doesn’t seem to be backing down.

“Fine.” Jughead sighs. Cheryl’s wicked grin seems to widen even further, which Betty didn’t think was possible. “We’ll show our faces and then we can grab some food after yeah?” he says, just to Betty this time.

Swallowing the anxious lump in her throat, Betty just nods at him with a small forced smile. “Yeh.” Turning back to the she-devil once more, she states “We’ll be there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the short chapter and wait, I've been pretty busy so writing time has been hard to find. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed, in the next chapter things are going to get bumpy ;)


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